What does it take to launch a fashion line these days? During New York’s Fashion Week, Nolcha’s Beyond the Runway competition has emerged as a solid platform and a reputable outlet for launching top-tier designers from around the globe

For over 55 years, the I.D. Annual Design Review has recognized the best in graphic, environmental, product and furniture design. We are very proud that MSLK’s own Sheri L Koetting has taken her place among a jury of the field’s leading practitioners. Her voice and sensibility played a large role in the winners chosen this year in the graphics category. Viewing everything through a lens of sustainability, Sheri not only examined the purpose and aesthetics of each piece, she questioned its material usage and life expectancy.

You can see all of the winning pieces on view now until September 10^th at the AIGA National Design Center. Read more to view some of the winners and what Sheri had to say about each of the pieces.

During a recent trip to Boston, I had the pleasure of seeing a small gem of an exhibition at the Boston Public Library called Away We Go, featuring travel posters from the 1920’s-1940’s. At that time, these works must have been extremely enticing to viewers with their scenic views of far-off places and new modes of transportation: cars, airplanes, and luxury ocean liners.

Today the posters are still as bright and adventurous as they once were (at least in my opinion). So, if you are a lover of travel, transportation and/or mid twentieth century nostalgia, it is a must see if you are in town. If you can’t, don’t worry, the library allows you to browse their entire poster collection online at Flickr! Read more to view some more of my favorites.

Brooklyn seems to tbe the epicenter of New York City’s most forward-thinking green initiatives. Whether it’s urban farms, green roofs, farm-to-plate initiatives, or green buildings themselves — it’s got it all.

MSLK is proud to be partnering with Brooklyn Ecopolis, a non-profit 501(c)3, community-based education and resource center aimed at promoting access to sustainable products, services, and innovations for healthy living.

Festivals are a great way to engage people in a city or neighborhood.  It’s an effective way to bring people into the area and showcase the normally hidden real estate. It’s a win for local business and civic morale. Such is the case with the annual “Season of Flowers” in the city of Girona, Spain, which were we able to catch on a recent visit. For nine days in May, local artists create works of art using primarily fresh flowers. These works are set amid some of Girona’s finest public and private architectural settings, many of which are open to the public only during the festival. These works are scattered throughout the old city (Ciutat Vella), on the cathedral steps, inside monuments such as the ancient Arab baths, museum courtyards, small patios, and along the city streets.

This website is amazing: http://www.compositionwithjavascript.com/

It’s an interactive work based on artist Piet Mondrian’s “Composition with Yellow, Red, Black, Blue and Grey” (1920). It allows everybody deconstruct the original painting and form it again in whatever he or she wants. Lines are shiftable (just drag it with your mouse) and colors changeable (click on it). Texture of the painting was preserved for authentic look.

You can play with composition, forms and colors, alter the harmony of the piece or even destroy it and compose something pictorial.

A great video has been put together about the event we were part of earlier this month.

Please “click” here to see!

There’s more than one way to say thank you and a great way to show your appreciation is with a well designed personal card. Our friends at Felt&Wire asked us to pick out a collection of our favorite Thank You cards from the Felt&Wire Shop. Out of the many great designs we found we’ve picked out 12 of our favorites. Here are a few of them:

I’ve just returned from an amazing trip: Barcelona, Morocco, and London. An amazing, inspirational treat for all the senses, I managed to take over 2,000 photos.

While in Barcelona, I was on the lookout for street art, having seen the film Exit Through the Gift Shop, about the famed street art master Banksy on the plane ride over. Some of what I saw was true guerrilla-style art, while other was hand-painted advertisements.

In all, these added color to one of Europe’s most vibrant of cities.

Here are a few of my top picks…

It’s interesting to see how brands either are leading or following visual trends, especially as technology impacts the media that brands are showcased. The old rules about logos (i.e. must exist as a black & white version for faxing, fewer colors for ease of printing) are being completely re-written in the digital age.

MSLK’s logo — the embodiment of our brand featuring overlapping initial of its founders “MSL” and “SLK” — was borne from the concept of wanting to showcase that the company is the overlapping of two initials, and  talents. We experimented with a number of different ways to showcase this (different fonts, different sizes, etc.), and has existed intact for almost 14 years. The result still garners compliments from those who are being introduced to our brand.